Rail-joint.



. "Uivrritn drains l Patented December 15, 1903.-

RILEY C. BOTT, GROUSE, OREGON.

amm-JOINT.

SPEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 747,037, dated December15, 1903.

Application filed July 18, 1903. Serial No. 16 6,l12. (No model.)

To ctZZvwwm it may concern:

Beit known that I, RILEY C. BOTT, a citizen of the United States,residing at Grouse, in the county of Wallowa and State of Oregon, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Rail-Joints, of which thefollowing is a specication.

This invention relates to rail-joints, the object in view being toprovide a simple, reliable, and effective joint for the meeting ends ofthe rails of a railway which will prevent the lateral or verticalbending of the rail ends at the point where the joints occur.

A further object of theinvention is to construct the splice-bars orfish-plates in such manner that they may be readily applied to andremoved from the rails and interlock with the rails both at the head andbase when in their applied positions.

With the above general objects in view the invention consists in thenovel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts, ashereinafter fully described, illustrated, and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View of arail-joint constructed in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 2is a vertical longitudinal section through one of the sh-plates orsplice-bars.v Fig. 3 is a side elevation of two rail ends, showing thedetachable key. Fig. 4 is a vertical crosssection through therail-joint, taken in line with one of the bolts. Fig. 5 is a detailperspective view of the key.

Like reference-numerals designate corresponding parts in all thefigures.

In carrying out the present invention I make use of a pair oi'fish-plates or splicebars, each of which is composed of two sections .land 2, pivotally connected or hinged together aboutcentrally of theirheight. The upper and lower sections of each fish-plate or splice-barare provided with interfitting knuckles 3, while all the knuckles areprovided with longitudinally-extending and registering openings for thereception of a hingepin 4, which extends practically the entire lengthof the fish-plate, as shown in Fig. 2, and enables the two members ofthe sh-plate to be rocked relatively to each other.

The upper member l is provided along its upper edge withupstandingdowels orprojections 5, while the lower member is providedalong its lower edge with downwardly-extending dowels or projections 6.The head of the rail is provided with'sockets or recesses 7 to receivethe projections 5, and the base ofthe rail is provided with sockets oropenings 8 to receive the projections 6, so that when the fish-platesare in position a positive inter- Iocked engagement is had between saidfishplates and the head and base of the rail ends. Two of suchfish-plates or splice-bars are employed and located at opposite sides ofthe rail, so as to bear against the web ofthe rail, and they are held inplace by two or more bolts 9, which extendthrough the fish-plates andweb of the rail and are arranged so as to dodge the hinge-pins 4, asshown in Fig. 2.

The meeting ends of the rails are recessed correspondingly to receivethe opposite ends of a key l0, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, said keycomprising a parallel-sided central portion 11, the tapering endportions 12, and the disk-shaped extremities or heads 13. The rail endsare recessed to loosely receive the end portions of the key 10, whichacts to prevent breaking down of the joint and .also prevents undueseparation or moving'apart ot' the ends of the rail. The key is insertedin the plates before the fish-plates or splice-bars are applied, thelatter preventing the displacement of the key when in position.

In order to remove the Iish-plates, the bolts are first extracted, andthen by means ot' a suitable pry or lever applied midway the height ofthe fish-plates the latter are broken outward along the line of theirhinged connection, thus withdrawing the dowels or projections from theirsockets in the base and head of the rail and permitting the fish-platesto be entirely removed.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A rail-joint comprising a pair of lishplates, each composed of twomembers provided with-intertitting knuckles connected by a hinge-pinextending lengthwise of the members, bolts for securing the iish-platesto the rail ends, one or both of said members being provided withprojections' which are ICO received in sockets in the rail ends,substanthe displacement of the key, substantially as tally as described.described. 1o 2. A rail-joint comprising rail ends having In testimonywhereof I aix my signature the web portions thereof recessed, a key reinpresence of two Witnesses.

5 movably tted in said recess and serving to RILEY C. BOTT.

prevent excessive endwise movement of the Witnesses: rails, andfish-plates'secured to the opposite LINCOLN AUSTIN,

sides of the rail ends and acting to prevent H. C. DEVINE.

